When something works well and makes a difference to improve people’s lives, news of it will spread fast via word of mouth. The multiple personal, social and environmental benefits of increased green cover are so swiftly evident, that news of PGH spreads like wildfire. The project was designed to go viral, so there is no way of knowing exactly how many trees have been planted beyond those grown within Isha nurseries, but it could be in the millions.

Underpinning the success of Project GreenHands is an inclusive social strategy designed to touch the heart of everyone that gets involved. By respecting everyone equally, PGH inspires and empowers people to believe that they can make a difference and then shows them how to take direct action to help themselves and their environment.

Project GreenHands offers a strategy that enables people:

to think big and rise to a shared challenge

to become educated about all the benefits of trees

to work together in ways that respects, values and includes everyone equally

to grow, plant and tend trees to heal their lands and rebuild their relationship with nature

to rebuild their energy, health and willingness to improve their own lives

to discover the joy of growing trees, so that words spreads and the project spreads with it

Self Help Groups are usually small groups of village women who come together to help each other, sometimes as micro entrepreneurs saving regular small sums of money to contribute to a common fund that meets their needs in times of emergency.,

Over 8,000 people died when the tsunami struck the coast of Tamil Nadu. Shock was an issue preventing people from rebuilding their lives. Isha offered tree saplings to every family that had lost a loved one, in a simple ceremony that provided a place for families to direct their grief. 25,000 saplings were planted within 3 weeks between 6 villages. The emotional bond that grew between people and their trees was strong and unexpected. Project GreenHands was created to explore the possibility that caring for saplings could rekindle people relationship to the living world and help reverse the environmental degradation of Tamil Nadu.

Project GreenHands has identified over 60 indigenous species of trees that could be planted throughout Tamil Nadu. So far 36 species have been are grown in PGH nurseries, providing fodder and green manure, fruit, flower, medicines, shade, fencing, fuel, oils, timber and materials for small scale forest enterprises.

2005: 25,000 seedlings planted in tsunami affected villages

2006: World Guinness Record for 852,587 seedlings planted on a single day by 256,289 people

By end of 2010, 10 million saplings will have been grown in more than 427 nurseries, planted in 1800 rural communities and 3 main industrial cities

Trees cool and increase the moisture content of the air, help reverse desertification by enhancing the drainage into aquifers and reduce soil erosion from wind and flood. The produce from trees reduces financial outgoings by providing resources for the soil, for the livestock and for human use that would otherwise have to be bought.

The development of intensive agriculture requires farmers to borrow money in order to purchase the seeds, fertilizers and pesticide they need to cultivate their land. Each failed harvest due to drought or flood through excessive monsoon is aggravating their debt level. Every year thousands of them lose any hope of getting out the vicious circle and commit suicide.

Much of rural Tamil Nadu relies primarily upon monsoon rains to provide both its drinking and agricultural water, but the monsoons are becoming increasingly unpredictable and turbulent. Rains can be late to arrive causing drought, or extremely intense when they come causing devastating flooding. Erosion of top soil is a massive contributor to agricultural decline, and agricultural debt through lost harvests is a huge burden for farmers whose livelihoods depend upon reliable weather.

PGH is designed to help people to help themselves. The project rolls out at the pace that villagers pick it up so that it follows the energy of interest and willingness rather than imposing itself or trying to convince. PGH is designed to help people recognize that they can perpetuate the benefits of the project them selves, increasingly improving their lands and lives so that there is no dependency upon the organization after the project has been actively adopted within an area.

For PGH to go to scale, replicate and raise its profile fast enough to achieve its goals, significant financial assistance is required. The initiative offers an attractive CSR proposition for social and environmentally minded organizations, covering a rare combination of environmental education and restoration, reforestation, climate change mitigation, community development, social justice, reduction of poverty and childhood malnutrition, biodiversity and water conservation.

Welcome to Project GreenHands

Project Vision :

To inspire people to plant trees, develop a culture of care towards the environment and make them realize their inevitable dependence on nature.

Project Mission :

The project mission is to increase the green cover of Tamil Nadu by 10% in order to reverse desertification, reduce soil erosion, restore self-sufficiency, recreate sustainability and counteract climate change.

Project GreenHands (PGH) inclusive social strategy involves people from every sector of society working together towards their shared environmental security and wellbeing. Through education and mass people participation, PGH has broken social divides and successfully involved businesses, NGOs, students, self-help groups, government agencies, farmers and villagers in this grassroots movement. PGH’s social mobilization strategy is designed to rekindle hope, proactivity and environmental responsibility, and bring about self-sufficiency that is in harmony with the ecosystem.

From planting 25,000 trees in tsunami-affected coastal areas in 2005, the project has grown with each passing year. Since its inception in 2004, Project GreenHands has enabled planting of more than 30 million saplings with the support of over 2 million people from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

We invite you to join hands with Project GreenHands to plant trees, to get involved and to contribute for a greener tomorrow.